1 Samuel 4:1

_AND THE WORD OF SAMUEL CAME TO ALL ISRAEL. NOW ISRAEL WENT OUT AGAINST THE PHILISTINES TO BATTLE, AND PITCHED BESIDE EBENEZER: AND THE PHILISTINES PITCHED IN APHEK._ The word of Samuel came to all Israel. The character of Samuel as a prophet was now fully established. The want of an "open vision" was supplied by him, because 'none of his words were let fall to the ground' (1 Samuel 3:19); and to his residence in Shiloh all the people of Israel repaired, to consult him as an oracle, who, as the medium of receiving the divine command, or, by his gift of a prophet, could inform them what was the mind of God. It is not improbable that the rising influence of the young prophet had alarmed the jealous fears of the Philistines, who, having kept the Israelites in some degree of subjection ever since the death of Samson, were determined, by a further crushing, to prevent the possi

1-9 Israel is smitten before the Philistines. Sin, the accursed thing, was in the camp, and gave their enemies all the advantage they could wish for. They own the hand of God in their trouble; but, instead of submitting, they speak angrily, as not aware of any just provocation they had given him. The foolishness of man perverts his way, and then his heart frets against the Lord, Proverbs 19:3, and finds fault with him. They supposed that they could oblige God to appear for them, by bringing the ark into their camp. Those who have gone back in the life of religion, sometimes discover great fondness for the outward observances of it, as if those would save them; and as if the ark, God's throne, in the camp, would bring them to heaven, though the world and the flesh are on the throne in the heart....

CHAPTER IV _A battle between Israel and the Philistines, in which the former_ _are defeated, with the loss of_ four thousand _men_, 1, 2. _They resolve to give the Philistines battle once more, and bring_ _the ark of the Lord, with Hophni and Phinehas the priests, into_ _the camp_, 3, 4. _They do so, and become vainly confident_, 5. _At this the Philistines are dismayed_, 6-9. _The battle commences; the Israelites are again defeated, with_ _the loss of_ thirty thousand _men; Hophni and Phinehas are among_ the slain; a

Some attach the opening words to the close of 1 Samuel 3, as the complement of what is there said, “The Lord revealed himself to Samuel ... in Shiloh, and the word of Samuel went forth to all Israel.” If placed at the commencement of 1 Samuel 4, and in connection with what follows, they are to be understood in the sense that Samuel called all Israel to battle against the Philistines. (Compare 1 Samuel 7:5.) But this is not the natural interpretation of the words, which seem clearly to belong to what went before. The mention of the Philistines connects the narrative with Judg. 13–16. Since the Philistine servitude lasted forty years...

EXPOSITION 1 SAMUEL 4:1 AND THE WORD OF SAMUEL... ALL ISRAEL. This clause is rightly connected with the foregoing verse of the previous chapter in the Syriac and Vulgate. Attached to the fourth chapter, it gives a wrong sense, namely, that Samuel gave the command for the assembling of all Israel for battle with the Philistines. This is so plainly erroneous that the A.V. dissents from it by translating the _and _in the next clause by _now. _Joined to the previous chapter, it gives the true meaning. Because Samuel spake _by the word of Jehovah, _therefore _his word came to all Israel, _that is, it was a binding and authoritative command throughout the whole land; or, in other words, when Samuel was acknowledged to be Jehovah's prophet he also became the virtual judge of Israel, though probably he did not act with

AND THE WORD OF SAMUEL CAME TO ALL ISRAEL,.... Or was "known", as the Targum, the word of prophecy by him, which related to what befell Eli and his family; this was spread throughout the land, and everyone almost had knowledge of it, and which began to be fulfilled in the war between Israel and the Philistines, later related; or the doctrine, instructions, and exhortations of Samuel to the people of Israel, were by the means of others conveyed throughout the land; and yet they went into measures which proved fatal and ruinous to them; or the word of Samuel, which was from the Lord, came to Israel, to stir them up to go to war with the Philistines, whereby the punishment threatened to Eli's family would begin to have its accomplishment: NOW ISRAEL WENT OUT AGAINST THE PHILISTINES TO BATTLE; according to the word of Samuel, or of the Lord by him; though Ben Gersom thinks they did this of...

5. THE JUDGMENT OF ELI AND HIS SONS--ICHABOD CHAPTER 4 _ 1. The fulfilled prediction: The death of Eli's sons (1 Samuel 4:1)_ 2. The death of Eli (1 Samuel 4:12) 3. Ichabod (1 Samuel 4:19) Israel then renewed the conflict with the Philistines and suffered defeat. It seems that they acted in self-confidence, and when the battle was lost they readily acknowledged the hand of the Lord in the disaster: “Wherefore has the LORD smitten us today before the Philistines?” But there was no self-judgment, no repentance, no crying unto the Lord. The ark of the covenant of the LORD is brought out of Shiloh. They trust in the ark instead of Jehovah; they expect salvation from the ark of gold an

1 SAMUEL 4:1 B. NOW ISRAEL. 1 SAMUEL 4:1 (E). From ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE ARK (_cf._ above, p. 273). 1 Samuel 4:1 b - 1 Samuel 4:11. The Israelites, Defeated by the Philistines, Fetch the Ark. They are again Defeated. 1 Samuel 4:1. Philistines: pp. 56f., 66f. EBEN-EZER: Stone of Help (_cf._ 1 Samuel 7:12). Sites of Eben-ezer and Aphek (1 Kings 20:26 *)

CAME. Compare Acts 3:24.Hebrews 11:32. EBEN-EZER. Stone of help. So called in anticipation of Samuel's victory twenty years later (1 Samuel 7:12). APHEK. Fortress. Joshua 15:53....

1 Samuel 4:1-11. Defeat of Israel by the Philistines and Loss of the Ark 1. _Now Israel went out_ The Sept. and Vulgate contain an additional clause, which softens the abruptness of the transition: "And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered together to fight against Israel." The abruptness of the narrative may be explained (1) because the historian only wishes to give an account of the war so far as it bears upon his main subject, the fulfilment of the prophecies against Eli's house: (2) because probably the account of the battle with the Philistines is extracted from some other book, in which it came in naturally and consecutively. The last mention of the Philistines was in Judges 13-16. In Judges 13:1 we read that "the Lord delivered the children of Israel